Browne — Ethnography of the Mullet, InishJiea, 8f Portachij. 643 



oldest probably being the small oratory of St. Brendan, on Inisglora, 

 of dry stone, and measuring twelve feet by eight internally.^ This 

 building contains the remains of the •wooden statute of St. Brendan, 

 long famed on this coast ; it used formerly be kissed by all visitors, and 

 miraculous powers were imputed to it ; now from exposure and damp 

 it has been reduced to a shapeless lump of decayed wood ; besides this 

 there are two churches, TeampuU na-bfear, the church of the men, 23 

 feet by 10 feet, and TeampuU na-mban, the church of the women. There 

 are also small enclosures, supposed to be the garden of the monastic 

 settlement, in which garlic grows wild. The island was inhabited as 

 late as 1616 by a monk named Walsh. On^N^orth Inishkea there is an 

 old church which was dedicated to St. Columbtille ; it has a doorway 

 of the wedge shape, and is in fairly good preservation, the islanders 

 being very scrupulous in the care of their antiquities. 



On South Inishkea the foundations of a similar building may be 

 traced. The holy wells are those of St. Derible on Inishkea and at 

 Fallmore, and the celebrated well of St. Brendan on Inishglora ; the 

 belief in the antifeminine qualities of this well seem to have arisen 

 from its being inside the bonds of the monastery. Finally, there are 

 several ancient crosses, the most curious being the incised slabs of 

 Inishkea and Duvillane ; the others are the cross of Tarmoncarra 

 referred to in a previous section, and the monumental stone near 

 Fallmore, known as Zeachf Mic MaitMn, loris, after a native of that 

 region, whose house was at that time the most western in Connaught ; 

 he does not seem to have been distinguished for anything else. 



{h) There have of late years been many finds of antiquities consist- 

 ing chiefly of articles of ecclesiastical use, mainly in North Inishkea. 

 Mr. J. A. J^olan, of Belmullet, has obtained in the shell mounds on 

 Inishkea a considerable number of pins and needles of bone, bronze, 

 and copper ; some of these are of curious workmanship. He also 

 possesses the fragments of a bowl of composition with a jet edge, 

 found by some of the islanders, who broke it up as being a "fairy 

 bowl." An antique bell (bronze ?) was found some time ago in the 

 ruins of St. Columbkille's Church, North Inishkea, by Phillip Lavelle, 

 king of the island, who preserved it. 



Other objects of later date have been found — a chalice of the 

 seventeenth century, on Inishkea, a pectorial cross and pyx of silver, 

 dated 1669, some coins, &c.- 



' The antiquities of Inishgluair are described in " Notes on Ems." 

 ^ Since the above was written several querns of smaller size than any now in 

 use have been found in some of the duns. 



